Welcome to Intelligent System Design Language!

Intelligent System Design Language (ISDL) is a custom programming language that enables you to create professional Virtual Tabletop Systems in hours, not months. It generates modern Foundry VTT systems compatible with Foundry V12 and V13 using cutting-edge web technologies.

ISDL provides both a VS Code extension and CLI tool for development, featuring syntax highlighting, intelligent validation, autocomplete, and seamless GitHub integration for publishing and sharing your systems.

✨ Key Features

🎨 Modern User Interface

• Vue 3 + Vuetify powered reactive character sheets for smooth, responsive gameplay
• Source-side Theming - declare colors, fonts, borders, and sizing as theme { } tokens (system-wide or per-field), with a sidecar SCSS escape hatch for bespoke atmosphere
• Advanced DataTables with search, filter, sort, and drag-drop functionality - perfect for managing inventories and spell lists
• Edit vs Play Mode toggle for clear distinction between character building and gameplay
• Responsive Design optimized for desktop and tablet use

⚡ Enhanced Active Effects

• Visual Editor integration for creating effects through the familiar Foundry interface
• Smart Targeting with automatic field detection and validation
• Condition Management with built-in status effect handling

🎲 Intelligent Game Mechanics

• Smart Dice Operations - multiply a d4 by 2 and get a d8, because that makes sense for tabletop games
• Enhanced Roll System showing detailed breakdowns with labeled components
• Crit & Fumble Flags - detect critical hits/fumbles by threshold or mark them yourself, with automatic green/red chat-card highlighting
• Dice Pool Inspection - count successes, detect specific faces, keep highest/lowest, and walk individual dice - perfect for World of Darkness, EZD6, and Shadowrun-style pools
• Keywords & Documentation - define game mechanics that auto-generate player reference journals
• Status Effects - conditional states with automatic application and visual indicators
• Conditional Visibility - show Ki trackers only for Monks, spell slots only for casters, etc.
• Resource Management with automatic token bar integration and damage application

🔗 Seamless Publishing & Sharing

• GitHub Integration - authenticate, publish systems, and manage releases directly from VS Code
• Automated Versioning with semantic version detection based on your ISDL changes
• Gist Sharing for quick collaboration and system prototypes
• Quality Releases with auto-generated installation instructions and changelogs

🛠️ Developer Experience

• VS Code Extension with full language support, syntax highlighting, and intelligent autocomplete
• CLI Tool for build automation and CI/CD integration
• Real-time Validation catching errors as you type
• Minimal Setup Needed so you can get started easily

🚀 Quick Start

Ready to create your first system? Choose your preferred development environment:

📝 VS Code Extension (Recommended)

1. Install the ISDL extension from the VS Code marketplace
2. Create a new .isdl file and start coding with full intellisense support
3. Use Ctrl+Shift+P → ISDL: Generate to create your Foundry system
4. Connect to GitHub for easy publishing and sharing

📚 Learn More

🚪 Start Here:

• Getting Started - Installation and your first system
• Your First System - Complete step-by-step tutorial

📖 Core Concepts:

• Documents - Actors, items, pages, and sections
• Fields - All available field types and properties
• Theming & Styles - Colors, fonts, borders, and sizing from source
• Keywords & Journals - Game mechanics and automatic documentation
• Basic Logic - Variables, math, conditions, simple actions
• Advanced Logic - Functions, loops, complex automation
• Interactivity - User prompts, events, system integration

🔍 Quick Reference:

• Recipes - Copy-paste solutions for typical RPG mechanics
• Logic Reference - Complete syntax and function reference

🔗 Integration & Sharing:

• GitHub Integration - Publishing and sharing systems
• Config - System configuration and metadata
• Examples - Real system examples

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🎯 Design Philosophy

1: Programming made easy, but still light programming

Systems like Simple World Building, Custom System Builder, and Sandbox all offer a no-code click based way to build out small lightweight systems.

ISDL is not nearly as complicated as developing a full Foundry system from scratch, but it is still a programming language. Basic familiarity with scripting languages as Javascript will be useful.

2: Do what makes sense

There are a lot of options and customization available, but if you use the default syntax it should provide a reasonable default.

When working with Datatypes like a list of Die size choices, most languages would reject self.DieSize += 1 - adding 1 to a string doesn't make sense for most languages. For ISDL, we raise the value to the next die size, because that's what makes sense for Tabletop games. Multiply a d4 by 2? Now you have a d8.

3: Just enough Typing

Some programming languages have no typing, meaning you can pass a number to something that expects a string and the function will have to deal with it - or error. Even simple typos can error.

Other languages provide fully enforced typing which protects you from these mistakes, but can add a lot of extra work doing type conversions and checks.

ISDL provides just enough typing to protect yourself from things like typos and errors, without requiring a ton of extra work.

Let's go!

Ready to start your system development?

👉 Start with the Getting Started Guide